If Halloween

celebrates

the in-between

and the inappropriate,

we hope

that it

is in

good taste,

like candy.

As Halloween

is quite

the scene

and grows

increasingly

extensive,

so too

is Election

Day,

the subsequent

Tuesday,

extraordinarily

expensive.

And if this

midterm

makes you

squirm

with

the thought

of how much

was bought

only

to be

determined

a trick

or  treat

depending

on who

wins

each seat,

this wrong

must be

righted.

Defeat

Citizens

United!

I know.

I know.

Practically

everyone

must go.

But this

is the

sugar

from all

that candy

that puts

us in

political

insulin

dependency.

The ascendency

of big money

unrestricted

has left us

quite afflicted

since 2010.

Money talks

when

it’s called

free speech,

supposedly

against

government

overreach,

but it would

grant

the Orwellian

“Corporate

Personhood”

allowing

unlimited

campaign

spending

as somehow

defending

freedom.

This is not

freedom

from,

but freedom

to

manipulate,

overtake,

and

perhaps

forsake

a system

conceived

for actual

people.

Heads,

I win;

tails,

you lose.

Trump

has always

played

that game

and will

undoubtedly

frame

Tuesday’s

outcome

as some

trick

or treat.

Regardless

of his

infantile

style,

I hope

you’ll go

the extra

mile,

and vote,

if you have

not already

done so.

And then

I beg you

to do

what you

can

before

the next

election,

to support

efforts

to undo

Citizens

United

and return

personhood

to individual

people.

Wouldn’t that

be a neat trick!

All I ask

is that we

unmask

this obscenity

as an enemy

to democracy.

Citizens

United

is an insult

that suits

the cult

of Trump.

Dump

em all

and then

keep going,

knowing

that

doing

democracy

is being

the change

you want

to see.

And let

Trick or Treat

be

for Halloween.